The present invention relates to a continuously variable belt drive transmission, and more particularly to a process for producing a microstructure on a surface of a pulley which is contacted with a belt.
It is known that pulleys for continuously variable belt drive transmissions are produced through sequential steps including case hardening of a raw steel plate, cutting, hot forging, removal of scales, machining (turning or drilling), carburizing, quenching and tempering, and grinding. In the conventional arts, the pulleys are ground after the carburizing or high-frequency quenching to improve a fatigue strength thereof. Japanese Patent Application First Publication No. 8-260125 describes such pulleys.